Private schools have been warned to be vigilant for wealthy parents using laundered money to pay for their children’s education.

Britain’s most senior financial policeman said public schools were among those who had filed reports to the authorities of suspicious payments, although he said this had happened only “very infrequently”.

Donald Toon, head of economic crime at the National Crime Agency, was outlining the UK’s plans to combat money laundering, particularly from Russia. “I think that I would certainly expect that anyone who is taking money, whether it be a school or whatever; they have a responsibility if they are part of the regulated sector,” he said.

“Schools . . . have a responsibility to carry out effective customer due diligence or KYC [know